WLFG


WLFG, virtual channel 68, is a religious independent station licensed to Grundy, Virginia, United States, serving the Tri-Cities area of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. The station is owned by Abingdon, Virginia-based Living Faith Ministries. WLFG's transmitters are located near Hansonville, Virginia and Harlan, Kentucky.
The station's programming is relayed on two satellite stations: WAGV in Harlan and WLFB in Bluefield, West Virginia. WAGV was the first to broadcast exclusively in digital following a malfunction at its analog transmitter.

History

Living Faith Television was founded by The Reverend Buford Smith who claimed that God had given him a vision to build a TV station in Virginia. The station grew from the original station in Grundy to include the other three transmitters.
Rev. Smith was pastor of Tookland Pentecostal Church in Grundy until his death in May 2003. His son, Michael Smith, was president of the station until Buford Smith's death, when he became president and CEO of Living Faith Television.
Tookland Pentecostal Church was a major financier when the station was founded; it broke most of its ties with the station after it declared its independence in 2006.
Living Faith Television is now under the control the board of Living Faith Television, with Mike Smith as president and CEO and wife Lisa Smith as CFO. Other personalities are Mary Smith, Laverne Tripp and Fred Schmidt, among others.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
68.1480iWLFG-DTMain WLFG programming
68.2480iLIGHTLight TV
68.3480iIONIon Television
68.4480iBUZZRBuzzr
68.5480iJUSTICEJustice Network
68.6480iQUESTQuest
68.7480iHSNHSN
68.8480iQVCQVC
68.9480iGEBGEB Network

Analog-to-digital conversion

WLFG shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, in May 2007. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49. Through the use of Program and System Information Protocol, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 68, which was among the high band UHF channels that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

Satellite stations

Programming

The station's programming consists mostly of content by other ministries that purchase air time, along with some infomercials. Original programming is spread throughout the broadcast day by the flagship program Living Faith Now!, along with Sing Time, Fred Schmidt, and Life Begins at Calvary, a program produced by Calvary Church of the Tri-Cities, and other programs.

Out-of-market cable carriage

In recent years, WLFG has been carried on cable in a number of areas outside the Tri-Cities media market, including cable systems within the Charleston, Lexington, Charlotte and Greensboro markets. According to Zap2it, WLFG has been carried on cable in College Grove, Tennessee, which is within the Nashville market.
Much of the southeastern portion of the Lexington media market can pick up WAGV's signal. WLFG/WAGV is also available on TVS cable in the Hazard, Kentucky area, and much of Knott and Perry counties, along with the Floyd County community of Wayland.